Birthdate: October 22, 1958, Long Beach, Calif. Residence: Sun Valley, Idaho Ht./Wt.: 6-1, 175 Marital Status: Married (Shauna) IRL Races: 3 1996 IRL Rank: 24 1996 Prize Money: $188,203 Johnny Unser Indianapolis "500" Record (Passed Driver's Test 1996) Speed Speed or Year Car Rank Qual. S F Laps Led Reason Out ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1996 Ruger-Titanium/Project Indy 24 226.115 16 33 0 Transmission ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total: 1 Race 0
Johnny Unser was born October 22, 1958, in Long Beach California. His father, the late Jerry Unser, was the first of the family to race at Indianapolis. Johnny started his racing career in motorcycles, dirt tracks, and autocross rallies. He moved to the Mazda Cup Series in 1986, earning one win, a pole and five top-three finishes. Unser ran his rookie season in the American IndyCar Series in 1990, where he posted podium finishes in every race-finishing second in AIS points. He took home a Rookie of the Year award to boot. In 1991, he finished the AIS in 5th place, with three top-three finishes. Unser is also a two-time winner of the Alcan 5000 Road Rally (1994 and 1996), a race that travels 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle. He has won the Tilton Tough Charger Award (1990) and the Air Force Reserves Commanders Award two times (1989 and '90).
Unser ran four events in his PPG cup season debut in 1993, with a best finish of 17th at Toronto. His first Indy "500" came in 1996. He was the third qualifier of the month at 226.115 in a Project Indy entry. Transmission problem early in the race got in the way: he was credited with a 33rd place finish. Unser made his IRL debut in 1996, in the Dura-Lube 200 at Phoenix (finished 9th).
1996-97 IRL Season Results Event FP SP Laps Reason Out IRL PTS Prize Money PTS Rank ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ True Value 200 -- -- -- DNQ 0 $10,000 24 Las Vegas 500K 22 20 67 Wheel Bearing 13 $10,000 29 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
